With the advent of cheap computing and sophisticated communication systems, communication network systems are progressively becoming more complex and more difficult to manage. For example, in a typical office building, several types of communication lines (e.g., telephone twisted pair wiring, local area network (LAN) and ethernet cables) may run from individual offices to a central wiring closet on the same floor. The communication lines from these closets on each floor may then run through a backbone to a data-center serving the entire building. Organizing, maintaining, and trouble-shooting these hundreds and perhaps thousands of communication lines is a significant challenge.
In such communication infrastructure installations, equipment for switching, cross-connecting and inter-connecting a variety of devices are used. Many of these devices are installed in equipment racks, thereby permitting organized, high-density installations in a limited space. For instance, patch panels may be conveniently used as a central point of termination of communication lines connecting equipment or coupling together different devices, thereby allowing a craftsman access to multiple connections at a single location to perform maintenance and/or reconfigure the communication network as necessary.
During maintenance and/or reconfiguration of a communication network, patch cables and connections are often relocated, added, removed or changed. When using a large number of patch cables, it can become very difficult to identify the initiating and terminating ends of a particular patch cable. Thus, documenting changes made to the patch cables and connections is important to assure that the communication network can be properly maintained and/or reconfigured in the future. Accordingly, “intelligent” communication network management systems are being developed that detect and track the numerous connections within a communication network. There is an ever growing need for reliable and scalable patch panel management architecture for use with intelligent communication network management systems.